A woman with spinal bifida who had her legs amputated said ignorant strangers ask her if she was in a terror attack.<br /><br />Safaa Charif, 27, was born with a gap in the her spine and said her legs were undeveloped when she was born.<br /><br />The TV researcher had her right leg amputated aged one when doctors determined she wouldn’t be able to walk with it, and had a prosthetic limb.<br /><br />She wore a brace on her "curved up" left leg until aged seven, when she elected to have it "chopped off" so she could wear “dolly shoes like everyone else”.<br /><br />Safaa was back walking in no time on her prosthetic limbs but has since had to undergo at least 24 surgeries related to her congenital deformities. <br /><br />Safaa, who is a Muslim, said strangers approach her and tell her she is “brave” and “inspirational” - and ask if she lost her legs in a bombing.<br /><br />Commenters online have even said in messages to her: "When a suicide bombing goes wrong."<br /><br />She said she laughs it off after being raised to have “tough skin” but wants to educate others on disability.<br /><br />Safaa, lives in Ealing, London, said: “People comment and say – ‘when a suicide bombing goes wrong.’<br /><br />“Or ‘you lost your legs in a bombing’.<br /><br />“They think someone who looks like me can’t have lost them in any other kind of way other than a terrorist attack.<br /><br />“If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.<br /><br />“Randomers come up to me and tell me how inspirational and brave I am.<br /><br />“People assume my life must be so difficult because of my disability.”<br /><br />For as long as Safaa can remember she has woken up in the morning and slipped into prosthetic legs.<br /><br />She said: “I don’t remember a life without putting my legs on.<br /><br />“I had my left leg amputated at seven.<br /><br />“My curved up and I had to wear this horrible leg brace with chunky trainers.<br /><br />“I just wanted to wear dolly shoes like everybody else.<br /><br />“I just thought ‘let’s get this thing chopped off’.<br /><br />“I told my dad, Hammadi, 57, and we told my mum, Olaya, 50, the day before the operation.<br /><br />“My dad and I have a morbid humour.<br /><br />“I had to relearn to walk but I was up and running within a matter of weeks.”<br /><br />Growing up, Safaa said she “stuck out like a sore thumb".<br /><br />She said: “Everything about me stuck out – let alone my disability.<br /><br />“My parents had a different approach and I never saw difference as bad.<br /><br />“I wore it as a badge of honour.”<br /><br />Safaa has now had over two dozen surgeries and she’s so used to them they are like “dentist appointments”.<br /><br />She said: “The bone carries on growing and the skin doesn’t so they have to revise it.<br /><br />“Last year I had surgery to revise both my legs and spent a year recovering.”<br /><br />Safaa now creates videos on TikTok to help educate people on disability and was shocked at the amount of “ignorance” out there.<br /><br />She receives racist and ableist comments on all her videos but is able to laugh it off.<br /><br />Safaa said: “Being disabled is seen as a dirty word.<br /><br />“It’s part of who I am.<br /><br />“I don’t want you to not see it but I don’t want to be defined by it.”
